Removing a ‘fair few’ layers of antifoul with orbital sander?

fredrussell said:
Anyone done this? I’m thinking that with a hoover attached and using decent Mirka pads it might be preferable to scraping. My hope is that with the hoover attached the pads will clog up less quickly.

I know that blasting is the preferred method, but I’m skint.
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I was going to either blast or scrape layers of antifoul of my boat this winter. Instead I'm going to just remove the lose stuff and patch up and use the antifoul already in place. Much more cost effective, less work and possibly better for the environment.
 
I used a Bosch power chisel with wide scraper blade to remove old hard antifouling, then orbital sander to smooth before epoxy coating. Danger with both scraper and orbital sander is digging in and removing gel coat. The boat was in a corner of a field so no problems with neighours but it was a dirty messy job and not to be repeated.
Fortunately, my current boat was in a Plymouth yard when I bought it so paid to have it soda blasted before orbital sanding, epoxy and coppercoat.
 
srm said:
I used a Bosch power chisel with wide scraper blade to remove old hard antifouling, then orbital sander to smooth before epoxy coating. Danger with both scraper and orbital sander is digging in and removing gel coat. The boat was in a corner of a field so no problems with neighours but it was a dirty messy job and not to be repeated.
Fortunately, my current boat was in a Plymouth yard when I bought it so paid to have it soda blasted before orbital sanding, epoxy and coppercoat.
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I found that the wide chisel blade was better than the flexible scraper blade. I blunted it slightly with a grinding wheel and fitted the wrong way around. It seems to smash the anti-foul once you let it wear through the paint initially on new sections. Quite a bit of movement to get the right angle and you can feel it suddenly starting to work when you get there. I only made a few small nicks initially and soon worked out the correct angle.
 
Scrape it with a Bahco scraper - even then there is an amount of dust and it took me 2 half days. ( 2 half days as my shoulders couldn’t cope with a full day ). I still wore full PPE as the dust got everywhere

it’s likely that you will find it comes of in “chunks” and if you remove the sharp corners of the Bahco blade then it doesn’t dig in.

Yachthaven required me to lay down Polythene sheet to catch the scrapings, which was then disposed off in the correct hazardous waste bin.
 
I have scraped antifoul without ppe before when i first had my own boat, i didnt know the dangers. But with my current boat i had it sandblasted by someone else
 
Old antifouling can be very dangerous.
My ex was checking our boat one winter and checking a prop was secure got a tiny flake of old hard antifoul in an eye. About a hour later the area around the eye was swollen and she could not see with it. Hospital staff needed a magnifying glass to find and remove the offending flake. Fortunately, no permanent damage.
 
fredrussell said:
Anyone done this? I’m thinking that with a hoover attached and using decent Mirka pads it might be preferable to scraping. My hope is that with the hoover attached the pads will clog up less quickly.

I know that blasting is the preferred method, but I’m skint.
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I've scraped my Parker 31 this spring, by hand, with the ubiquitous yellow scraper. There was 14 years worth of antifoul on her. It took 5 days and two blades. I'm 74. Wouldn't dream of dry sanding, even with vacuum.
 
srm said:
Old antifouling can be very dangerous.
My ex was checking our boat one winter and checking a prop was secure got a tiny flake of old hard antifoul in an eye. About a hour later the area around the eye was swollen and she could not see with it. Hospital staff needed a magnifying glass to find and remove the offending flake. Fortunately, no permanent damage.
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Yes our hung ho attitude with antifoull g and paint was alright back in the o,d days
 
Wansworth said:
Yes our hung ho attitude with antifoull g and paint was alright back in the o,d days
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Yes - I shudder to recall that I have helped to apply TBT based antifouling. But in the 60s it was the latest and best thing - until they realized the harm it was doing to fisheries (and people excessively exposed to it).

Incidentally, Axminster Tools advertize a power chisel that seems like it would work for antifouling removal. Not particularly cheap, though.
 
thalassa said:
I've scraped my Parker 31 this spring, by hand, with the ubiquitous yellow scraper. There was 14 years worth of antifoul on her. It took 5 days and two blades. I'm 74. Wouldn't dream of dry sanding, even with vacuum.
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Funnily enough it’s a Parker 31 that I’ve got to do.

Well, it seems that it’s unanimous; don’t use a sander. Cheers for the warning(s). I’ll stick a thread on east coast forum to see who does blasting locally, but if Antarctic Pilot’s quote is typical it’s blisters time for me I fear.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Yes - I shudder to recall that I have helped to apply TBT based antifouling. But in the 60s it was the latest and best thing - until they realized the harm it was doing to fisheries (and people excessively exposed to it).
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As I have mentioned before local shell fishermen quite happy to scrounge big ship antifoul ignoring the science
 
I've had reasonable success using a manual pole sander and the non clogging mesh with lots of water . I dip the pole in a bucket of water and take it to the area where the yard scrubs off. It at least smooths things off and lessens the moon craters.
 
fredrussell said:
Funnily enough it’s a Parker 31 that I’ve got to do.

Well, it seems that it’s unanimous; don’t use a sander. Cheers for the warning(s). I’ll stick a thread on east coast forum to see who does blasting locally, but if Antarctic Pilot’s quote is typical it’s blisters time for me I fear.
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When I stripped Concerto 9 years ago, I used a 1½" chisel as a scraper. The blade needs to be kept sharp with a little back burr to be most effective. Only took me 2 days before sanding the gel coat clean. If the work is too hard then just strip one side and do the other next year.

If you want dry ice blasting then Gransden in Kent are the people to use. Best to get several boats to be stripped at the same time to minimise costs.
Marine Dry Ice – Gransden Construction Ltd
 
I use coarse sanding mesh, wet. 60 grit removes the antifoul reasonably quickly and leaves a fairly smooth surface. I tried using a scraper but kept damaging the gelcoat.
 
Praxinoscope said:
Just don’t, as pointed out earlier it’s toxic.
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Some years ago now ( maybe 10/15) I followed up this issue with a poisons outfit and was surprised to find that antifoul dust wasnt toxic. Not that it was good for you to be breathing it in, but apparently you arent likely to fall flat on your back kicking your feet in the air at the first whiff of dust. Logical because it antifoul really was toxic, they wouldnt sell it for you to apply in the first place.

Just had a 29ft bilgie blasted for £580 - the cost of my laziness :sleep:
 
I use a 2” chisel and belt sander to sharpen it , works great just remember to round the corners off so it doesn’t dig in , have the belt sander next to you ready ,get comfortable I use some old boat seat pads and a car creeper with an adjustable back rest.
 
Birdseye said:
Some years ago now ( maybe 10/15) I followed up this issue with a poisons outfit and was surprised to find that antifoul dust wasnt toxic. Not that it was good for you to be breathing it in, but apparently you arent likely to fall flat on your back kicking your feet in the air at the first whiff of dust. Logical because it antifoul really was toxic, they wouldnt sell it for you to apply in the first place.

Just had a 29ft bilgie blasted for £580 - the cost of my laziness :sleep:
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It is toxic, but as you say, it doesn’t kill you instantly. The effects are cumulative, and may affect your health in years to come. That’s why it’s not good for you to breathe it in. Nobody ever said it kills you stone dead.
 
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